The French wind energy association (FEE) says the country’s 2028 targets for the offshore sector outlined in a draft energy plan released at the end of last week are not ambitious enough.
The offshore goals of 2.4GW by 2023 and between 4.7GW and 5.2GW by 2028 are “far too short”, said FEE president Olivier Perot.
“These “minima” objectives will deprive our country of an industrial, economic, energy and environmental opportunity that we are unlikely to encounter for a long time,” Perot said.
“However, we note a progress in terms of visibility and programming of tenders until 2024. Moreover, the ‘target prices. represent in themselves an acknowledgment of the competitiveness, by the government, of wind power in France,” he added.
FEE said that the results of the Round 3 Dunkirk offshore wind tender show the “competitiveness of offshore wind in France” and the organisation plans to work with the government to try and raise the targets for the sector.
FEE was more welcoming of the plans for onshore wind, describing them as “coherent objectives”.
“The timing and volumes proposed by the government provide sufficient visibility for further development, and job creation is directly correlated,” it said.
However, the target of 24.6GW by 2023 and 35.6GW by 2028 “must be accompanied by measures to accelerate and simplify the development of projects and promote a harmonious and balanced development throughout the territory”.
The draft plan, which is open for consultation, envisages overall clean power capacity growing to between 102GW and 113GW by 2028.